Mediaite » The Roots

Watch Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter Rapping With The Roots At His Inauguration Party

Jon Bershad — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:36:45 +0000

Man, who’d have guessed it? Those Pennsylvania politicians are talented! Just a week after we got the treat of watching former Senator Arlen Specter doing stand up, we’re now gifted with a video of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter rapping! At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before footage leaks of the Pittsburgh comptroller doing interpretive dance.

The video comes from a party celebrating Mayor Nutter’s second inauguration. During the festivities, Nutter jumped on stage and joined the one and only Roots to do a rendition of the Sugarhill Gang’s immortal “Rapper’s Delight.” And, somehow, he managed to accomplish what millions of partygoers for the past few decades have been unable to do; remember the lyrics.

Seriously, people talk about whether or not President Obama uses a teleprompter but forget that. I need to know if Nutter was cheating on this. If he really did this all from memory, then I will vote to re-elect him next chance I get. And I don’t even live in Philadelphia.

Rest of America, be warned. Pennsylvania just served you all.

Watch the video below:

(h/t CBSPhilly)

Following Bachmanngate, Late Night‘s Questlove Now Has To Have Song Choices Ok’d By NBC Execs

Alex Alvarez — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:52:59 +0000

Alternate title: “NO GUESTLOVE FOR QUESTLOVE?”

So. It would appear that Questlove, the drummer and front-man for Late Night house band The Roots, is having his freedom to choose the show’s songs seriously curbed as a consequence of choosing to introduce recent guest Michele Bachmann with Fishbone’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” He’ll now have to have songs ok’d by no less than three higher-ups at NBC.

Questlove recently admitted that the song choice had been deliberate, telling Rolling Stone that “I’m gunning for Bachmann” and “I want to try and do Fishbone’s ‘Lyin’ Ass Bitch.’” He also shared that, to date, host Jimmy Fallon has vetoed but one song: “She Blinded Me With Science,” for actress Katie Holmes. (Get it?)

Fallon’s reaction to Rolling Stone? “Maybe Questlove is a Romney guy.” Maybe!

h/t Rolling Stone

Jimmy Fallon: I Was ‘Embarrassed’ By Scandal Surrounding Michele Bachmann’s Intro Song

Alex Alvarez — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:35:07 +0000

Host Brian Williams was joined by a typically fidgety (not to mention “shiny” and “pocket-sized”) Jimmy Fallon on Rock Center Tuesday.

After listing Fallon’s many, many talents (singing, dancing, cat wrangling, etc.), Williams asked the late night host about the backlash he and his band received for playing Fishbone’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” to introduce Michele Bachmann during her recent Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance.

Fallon had Tweeted an apology to Bachmann after the show aired, adding that he was honored to have had her on this program.

He said he was “embarrassed” by what happened, and just wanted all the attention surrounding it to go away. He shared that he had called Bachmann numerous times, finally able to get in touch with her to learn that, actually, she’d had a “kick” on his show, even if she was disappointed by The Roots’ song choice.

Fallon said that The Roots’ Questlove (the drummer and “face” of the band) has even been yelled at by his own mother over the song, and that he also apologized to Bachmann.

Have a look at Fallon’s interview, via NBC

Joy Behar: Jimmy Fallon’s Band Should Have Played ‘Don’t Know Much About History’ For Bachmann

James Crugnale — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:08:53 +0000

The View‘s Joy Behar took a swing Monday at Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann over her outrage about the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” which Questlove and The Roots played to introduce the Minnesota Congresswoman on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “They should’ve played ‘Don’t Know Much About History‘!” Behar exclaimed to laughter and cheers from the crowd. “That would’ve been a better song.”

The panelists earlier discussed the hubbub over Questlove’s song selection.

Barbara Walters wasn’t familiar with the song, asking Whoopi Goldberg if there were any lyrics to it.

“Well, it’s familiar to us who know the song,” Goldberg noted. “Do you know all the words?” asked Walters. “Do you want me to sing ‘em?” joked Goldberg.

Goldberg added that she thought it was interesting that in response to the kerfuffle over “Lyin’ Ass Bitch”, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh jokingly introduced Michelle Obama to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back. “Does this mean then, with all the things Rush has said, that he actually thinks Michelle Obama has a big butt? Is that what he’s saying?”

Co-host Sherri Shepherd thought that politics didn’t play a role in Questlove’s use of the song.

“Michele Bachmann says (the song was played) because she was conservative. I don’t think it’s necessarily because she’s conservative because I don’t think she has enough power,” she argued. “I think it’s disrespectful to her as a woman. If it were Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan, I think heads would have rolled.”

“The songs were not appropriate either way,” Goldberg concluded.

Watch Behar’s joke about Bachmann below via ABC:

NBC Apologizes To Michele Bachmann For ‘Disrespectful’ Jimmy Fallon Song

James Crugnale — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:32:29 +0000

Following Michele Bachmann’s calls for an apology from NBC after she walked on to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to the tune of Fishbone’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch”, the network’s vice president for late night programming, Doug Vaughan, offered a letter of personal regret for the incident.

Brian Bakst from the Associated Press reports that Vaughan reached out to the Republican presidential candidate, calling the playing of the off-color song “not only unfortunate but also unacceptable,” giving his “sincerest apologies” and said the band had been “severely reprimanded” for their actions, without giving specifics.

Previously, Fallon had personally tweeted that he was honored to have Bachmann as a guest on his show and he was sorry for the “intro mess”:

Alice Stewart, a spokesperson for Bachmann’s campaign said the Minnesota Congresswoman had talked to Fallon and he was sorry the incident had happened.

“He was extremely nice and friendly and offered his apology, and she accepted it,” Stewart said. “It’s just unfortunate that someone had to do something so disrespectful.”

Watch the Today show discuss the controversy below via NBC:

(h/t The Blaze)

The Five’s Greg Gutfeld Calls The Roots ‘Sleazy,’ ‘Cowards’ For Michele Bachmann Song Stab

Nando Di Fino — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:36:31 +0000

Fox News’ The Five kicked up the Michele Bachmann – Jimmy Fallon controversy (It was reported earlier today that Fallon’s house band, The Roots, played Bachmann on to the show with a version of Fishbone’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch”), and absolutely tore into the band and NBC for allowing this to happen. Taking the most offense was Greg Gutfeld, who painted The Roots as both cowards and politically-motivated entertainers.

“They don’t have the guts to talk to her when they’re in the green room,” Gutfeld said. “The band can go to the green room and say, ‘I don’t like you,’ but, instead, they do this because they’re cowards, they’re wusses, and they hate conservative women.”

Bob Beckel noted that Gutfeld’s assessment was, “probably true,” while Kimberly Guilfoyle jumped in and said it was disrespectful to Bachmann. “They’re big losers for doing that,” she added.

Gutfeld wasn’t done. He said that this is a bigger example of how entertainers treat conservative women.

“They never would have done this to Nancy Pelosi,” Gutfeld said. “It’s so sleazy.”

Watch the entire discussion from The Five below, courtesy of Fox News:

Glenn Beck: Jimmy Fallon’s A ‘Despicable Human Being’ Who ‘Should Be Ashamed’

James Crugnale — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:15:13 +0000

Glenn Beck was apoplectic upon learning that Questlove and The Roots had played “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” to introduce Michele Bachmann on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon last night and trashed the late night host. “You treat her like that?” Beck erupted. “You want to use her for ratings? You’re a despicable human being!”

Beck said that Bachmann had talked to him following the show and told the conservative pundit that the show had went “went really well, he was very nice.” He noted that she “obviously didn’t know” her introduction song.

“Inexcusable! Jimmy Fallon, you should be ashamed of yourself,” Beck exploded.

Co-host Stu Burguiere observed that Questlove had tweeted out about the song before Bachmann’s interview.

“If you do that to my guest, you tweet, I fire you,” Beck exclaimed. “You do that to Michele Bachmann or Michelle Obama, I fire you. You don’t set people up like this. They’re two-faced liars.”

“Fire them, Jimmy,” Beck demanded. “You won’t, you know why? Because you’re a girl. You’re only playing little girl games. You don’t violate basic human decency….it’s fine to make jokes, but you don’t treat people like that.”

Listen to Beck blow up at Jimmy Fallon on his show, below via his radio show:

Michele Bachmann’s Entrance On Jimmy Fallon? The Fishbone Song ‘Lyin’ Ass Bitch’

Jon Bershad — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:48:46 +0000

Earlier this morning, our own Nando Di Fino critiqued Michele Bachmann’s appearance on last night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon by saying that that the first half of her segment, when she discussed her family life and Thanksgiving, was much better than her second, where she attempted to make “stale, rehearsed political humor.” However, it now seems that her spot on the show was tainted from the very beginning thanks to a sly commentary from Fallon’s house band, The Roots. In case anyone watching the show was curious why Bachmann’s entrance music appeared to be a rocking ska song, the song’s title, “Lyin’ Ass Bitch,” might explain things.

Yes, it appears Questlove decided to make clear their feelings on the Minnesota Congresswoman to anyone who was both listening carefully and was a fan of the seminal band Fishbone. In case there’s any question of whether the choice was intentional, Questlove told his Twitter followers to pay attention:

Apparently worried that some might not get the message, he later posted another clue:

As Spin points out, this isn’t the first time The Roots have used their song choices as commentary. Previously, they scored Ashlee Simpson’s appearance to a Milli Vanilli song and welcomed Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt with the song “Loser” by Beck. All of which is very funny. However, there’s a big difference in calling an MTV reality star a loser and calling a presidential candidate a bitch. Expect this story to be all over the news in the next day or so. The question will be if, in conservative circles, The Roots get the same strong defense that the NASCAR fans did.

Watch the clip of Bachmann’s entrance from NBC below.

(h/t Spin)

Brian Williams And Jimmy Fallon Slow Jam The Debt Default Crisis

Frances Martel — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:47:44 +0000

It is rare that a story so complex, tedious, and time-consuming as the current potential debt default Congress is fighting up takes up all the breathing room in the news cycle, and it has definitely taken a toll on the American people’s faith in government, if not on their attention span. Luckily, Jimmy Fallon and Brian Williams have put together a recap in what is possibly the only medium through which the story is palatable: the classic Slow Jam.

Williams enlisted Fallon’s help, along with The Roots, to recap “all that moaning and groaning on Capitol Hill” lately, and he sultrily sang the one truth about the whole debt mess: “any time Democrats and Republicans get together, someone’s getting screwed.” There are some real double entendre gems in this piece, with possibly the best being “caucus blockus,” and delightful rhymes lamenting the lack of love between Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama– even with some Harry Potter references mixed in.

The segment from Friday night’s Late Night via NBC below:

Stephen Colbert Performs His Version Of Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ For Jimmy Fallon

Frances Martel — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:25:39 +0000

You can make fun of Rebecca Black all you’d like, but who was performing your music when you were 13? To the list of people now culturally bound to her hit (?) single “Friday” we can now add Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon, who, along with The Roots, the Knicks City Dancers, some guy in a Bigfoot outfit, and American Idol winner Taylor Hicks for some reason, performed the most over-the-top rendition of the tune yet.

While reinterpreting “Friday”– a song that, should the Mayans be right about the world ending in 2012, will define pre-apocalyptic humanity forever– is enough of an artistic statement in itself, there was some method to the madness. The performance was the culmination of several weeks of fundraising on the part of both hosts, with Fallon getting Colbert to promise that, should his fans raise $26,000 for Donor’s Choose, he would perform the song. The viewers coming through, Colbert held up his end of the promise spectacularly. Adding lights, confetti, balloons, dancers, and terrible props to come up with something vaguely resembling the SNL sketch “What Up With That?”, they even significantly improve upon the creepy thirty-something-year-old rapper cameo with just a car door and what looks like a wagon. Colbert and Fallon managed to take what could arguably be the worst song of all time and threw the kitchen sink at it, coming up with something like the aural equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting.

Today is Saturday (and Sunday comes afterwards), but you can still indulge your love/hate of the song via NBC below:

The Bad Guy From Avatar Is Not The Roots’ Bass Player (Update)

Steve Krakauer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:27:53 +0000

Listen, The Washington Post, we all make mistakes. You correct them, move on. We get it.

But, while the actor Giovanni Ribisi does look like the bass player in The Roots, what made you go ahead and assume they were the same person?

Here’s The Washington Post, identifying the people on stage at a D.C. Earth Day concert:

Yeah, no not Giovanni Ribisi. Actually, it’s Owen Biddle. On Twitter, he found the whole thing pretty funny.

Ha! Credited as Giovanni Ribisi in the Washington Post… Jesse Jackson also escaped detection http://twitpic.com/1ins1a

Good point. Meanwhile, Roots bandleader Questlove tweeted this:

journalism at its finest. according to the Washington Post http://bit.ly/9yNJz4 Giovanni Ribisi is our new bass player. #lazyfactcheckers

Ouch! Harsh hashtag. But fair… (And the latest in our series, “Newsworthy Mediaite Story Ideas Questlove Tweeted“.)

As of 12:20pmET, it’s still wrong.

> Update: Well, it’s corrected, sort of. As of 1:35pmET, Ribisi isn’t mentioned but now it just says “The Roots.” Sorry, Owen.

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» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Jimmy Fallon Blossoms Into A Late Night Staple

Jonathan Fuhrman — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:46:03 +0000

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is funny. There, I said it. Getting it out there in the open for all to see/hear/read/absorb/inhale (you get the point) is therapeutic. I honestly feel better already. If you have been staying up late watching Late Night or, more realistically, DVR-ing and watching it whenever you feel like it (I just burned through a week’s worth of episodes in a few hours this morning), you already know this fact. For the rest of you, this is your wake up call.

Yes, it’s true, I miss Conan O’Brien terribly. As far as I am concerned, there will continue to be a big hole in the late night TV universe until Conan makes his triumphant return later this year on TBS when his non-compete clause with NBC expires. But as much as I may want to criticize NBC for some bone-headed decision making in the whole Conan/Leno fiasco this past winter, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has predictably returned as ratings king in the 11:30pm timeslot, winning in total viewers and all key demographics against its prime competition, Late Show with David Letterman and the Nightline/Jimmy Kimmel Live combo. Jay’s ratings victories represent a feat that Conan’s version of The Tonight Show was never able to consistently achieve. (In fact, in the 1st quarter of 2010, Late Show with David Letterman took home the win in total viewers against The Tonight Show for the first time since way back in 1995, right before Hugh Grant took his memorable turn on Jay’s Tonight Show’s couch to talk about a little dalliance with a classy woman named Divine Brown).

Despite the fact that Conan was losing the overall viewership ratings battle to Letterman, I do believe had NBC actually given Conan time to grow as Tonight Show host, they would have secured a strong future in the 11:30 slot with a much younger demographic. But I also believe that someday there could possibly be peace in the Middle East, so what do I know?

Well one thing I actually do know is that despite their epic fail on the Conan O’Brien front, NBC has a good thing going right now in the 12:30 time slot with Jimmy Fallon, and somehow NBC may have lucked into a much younger, hipper, and yes, let’s be honest, very goofy host that can be groomed to take over The Tonight Show whenever Jay Leno finally decides he has enough money and wants to move to some island filled with classic cars. I picture Leno playing with those cars very much the same way I played with my matchbox cars when I was 5. But hey, as long as he is happy right?

Jimmy Fallon has always been a likeable talent going back to his beginnings on Saturday Night Live, where he had a knack for mimicking current pop music to comic effect and for his dead-on impersonations of celebs such as Adam Sandler circa Billy Madison. The most consistent criticism always leveled at Fallon was that he couldn’t make it through an SNL sketch without cracking up. I mean, can you hate a guy for laughing? Well, yes, I guess; that’s why people are termed “haters” and Fallon has had his share. The haters had even more ammunition after Fallon’s failed leap to big-screen stardom. Let’s just say that Jimmy will not be reuniting with Queen Latifah and Gisele Bundchen to star in Taxi 2 anytime soon (though I’m guessing the original Taxi was probably huge in France – I have no numbers to back that guess up, I’m going purely on stereotype). Although Jimmy did have the good fortune of snagging a role in my absolute favorite film of the 00’s, Cameron Crowe’s ode to the 70’s rock scene Almost Famous, so as far as I’m concerned his movie career isn’t a total disaster.

Which brings us to the present – well, almost. NBC did have the good business sense to sign Jimmy Fallon to a talent holding deal back in 2004 when the whole Jay/Conan Tonight Show transition was first announced. The belief was that Jimmy would be a perfect host to hand over the Late Night franchise to when Conan moved to LA to take over as Tonight Show host. Well, we all know how the Conan part turned out, but Jimmy is still standing…and yes, I will say it again, Jimmy Fallon is funny. More specifically, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has become consistently funny television. It’s true that when the show first began airing it was often cringe-worthy. But the show is now a year old and is starting to hit on all cylinders.

>>>NEXT: Check out some of the main reasons Late Night is a staple for the pop culture addict.

Bill Gates’ Public Partying And Other Oddities: Sundance Recap Part I

Jonathan Fuhrman — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:27:13 +0000

A glance at my watch indicated it was just before 1am on the first Saturday night/early Sunday morn of the Sundance Film Festival. The setting was downstairs at Ciseros restaurant on Main St in Park City, which had been rechristened for the week as the Island/Def Jam House of Hype aka The Film Lounge, one of the hottest party spots/ gifting lounges during the festival.

John Legend and the Roots had just taken the stage at this intimate gathering of film-making elite. The lucky few hundred party-goers in attendance at one of the hottest events of all of Sundance were about to see John Legend and the legendary Roots crew jam together before a live audience for the very first time (Legend later announced that they would be releasing a collaborative new album later in 2010). As the music swelled and the crowd on the over-packed dance floor swayed to the beat, one figure loomed large over the crowd, dancing atop his VIP banquet. But this was no ordinary man, he was the richest man in the room. Not just this room mind you, but every room on the planet. Yes, Mr. Bill Gates was seriously getting his party on. You may ask what was Bill Gates doing partying so publicly in the middle of Sundance. It’s ok, I asked myself the very same question, and I can assure you he wasn’t there showcasing his dance moves as a public audition for a spot on next season’s Dancing With the Stars – his funky chicken was just a tad too rusty. In any event, I’m pretty certain his important work with the Bill Gates Foundation will keep him from dancing across our TV sets anytime soon.

In fact, Gates’ appearance at the premiere independent film festival in the U.S. was tied to Microsoft’s new web search site Bing serving as one of the primary sponsors of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In many ways Sundance 2010 served as Bing’s big coming out party. You could not walk down Main street without bumping into some Bing imagery, be it the “Bing Bar”, the site of many a film premiere party, or the Bing street marketing crew working the crowds in the street into a frenzy by tossing such Bing-emblazened products as ski caps and scarfs. And yes, as I detailed in an earlier piece here, Bing even sponsored this year’s Sundance party list. While the fear may be that corporate sponsorship by Bing and others could overwhelm such a small prestigious film festival, I’m very happy to report that, Bill Gates dance parties notwithstanding, the celebration of independent film is still very much at the heart of the Sundance experience.

So how best to explain to a newbie what it’s like to visit Park City, Utah during Sundance? Well, have you ever had one of those dreams where you can’t quite place where you are, but you seem to know everyone you bump into, even though these people are from all different aspects of your life, and really would never all be at the same place at the same time? Well Sundance is kind of like that, except add in movie stars and paparazzi. A large portion of the Hollywood community descends into Park City for a week or so, and everywhere you go you bump into someone in the industry who you’ve worked with or met along the way, along with plenty of people you’ve grown up watching on screens big and small. Oh, and I should mention everyone looks a lot less fabulous in heavy winter attire (it pretty much snowed every day at the festival this year). The centralized and intimate nature of the festival certainly leads to some random encounters. One moment I found myself sitting next to David Cross and his girlfriend Amber Tamblyn at Easy Street bar watching the end of the classic Saints-Vikings NFC Championship, and the next I was sharing a bathroom with Josh Duhamel (sorry ladies, I didn’t look). Oh, and for the record, those events didn’t happen sequentially.

>>>NEXT: More than celebrity encounters, Sundance is about the movies. We talk about those next.

Danny DeVito Shows Jimmy Fallon His Boy’s Soul

Rachel Sklar — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:28:57 +0000

Last night Danny DeVito was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and fans of his quietly-getting-ginormous TV show, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, were treated to a musical rendition of an awesome in-joke: The Roots played DeVito in with a swingin’ rendition of “Troll Toll” from the Always Sunny musical, The Nightman Cometh. See? Total in-joke. Here it is, in a nutshell: Danny DeVito plays the Troll who demands a Toll from the Nightman who wants the Boy’s soul. Line: “You’ve got to pay the Troll Toll if you want to get into this boy’s soul.” What else does “Boy’s Soul?” sound like? Exactly.

Anyhow: Aside from the opening (er, no pun intended), it was a great interview — Fallon got DeVito talking about Taxi (oddly, not even a reference to Fallon’s movie of the same name) and Always Sunny (on Kaitlin Olsen: “the funniest woman on TV”; The McPoyle Brothers: “these guys walk around with their own jar of Vaseline!”), and his own Danny DeVito brand on Limoncello. Yes – Danny DeVito’s Limoncello, inspired by his infamous drunk-on-The View incident ( “I knew that it was the last seven Limoncello’s that was gonna get me“). Fallon says that restaurateur Mario Batali only uses it in his kitchens. Here it is for $24.95 if you would like to purchase some. Good things come from showing up drunk on The View!

Other DeVito news: Go here to see his new Facebook page, here to follow him on Twitter, and here to see him naked on Always Sunny.

The video is below; it’s the full ep, so skip to the second tab at 17:08.